Geth
The geth are a race of networked artificial intelligences that reside beyond the Perseus Veil. The geth were originally created by a group of scientist as laborers and tools of war to be used in the ending UNSC /Covenant war. When the geth became sentient and began to question their masters, the scientists attempted to exterminate them. The geth won the resulting conflict and would go on to colonize other planets in their solar system. The history of the geth's creation and evolution serves as a warning to the rest of the galaxy of the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. Design Physically, most geth units have a humanoid body however only posses three thick fingers on both hands which include a thumb, an index finger, and a long finger, similar to the middle fingers for humans, as well as three toes on each foot. Their lower legs are also bowed backwards significantly. A common design feature among geth is a single brightly glowing photoreceptor, causing some to refer to them as "flashlight heads". Geth are primarily composed of two materials: a flexible but durable outer shell, and a kind of synthetic muscle tissue, It is actually possible for this synthetic muscle to be grafted to organic tissue. Geth "bleed" a white conductive fluid when shot, but they don't have any internal organs or nervous system, so the geth do not feel hunger or pain. Part of the geth's success is due to their neural network. Effectively, they "share" their processing power, distributing low-level processes like motor control and visual identification to free up bandwidth for higher reasoning and complex thought. Geth can't share sensory data (they are not a hive mind like the Arachnids) but in large groups they have more to think with. An individual geth has only a basic intelligence on par with animal instincts, but in groups they can reason, analyze situations, and make tactical decisions as well as any of the organic races. An exception would appear to be Legion, a geth specifically designed to operate as an autonomous sentient unit outside the Perseus Veil. Legion possesses over 11 times as many geth programs as a standard geth platform and can function intellectually on its own. each geth is made up of hundreds of programs equivalent to VIs, all operating in parallel with one another to form a kind of emergent intelligence. An individual geth is thus more of a "mobile platform" than an actual body; the programs that make up its consciousness are constantly being transferred and downloaded; the mind operating one of these "mobile platforms" might just as easily inhabit a starship body should it need to. Most of the time geth programs can be found residing in server hubs, which function as something akin to the organic equivalent of a city, and can run millions of geth in communion. Over time, the geth have evolved into numerous sub-forms, ranging from the diminutive but highly agile Geth Hoppers, to the gigantic, lumbering Geth Armatures. Government As all geth are networked to each other, they may communicate their exact thoughts and ideas at the speed of light. They find organic methods of communication, such as body language and spoken word, to be largely inefficient; the geth are able to communicate their thoughts flawlessly without any fear of misinterpretation. Because of this they have no true form of government and no system of rank. When a matter must be decided upon, the geth communicate all viewpoints of a situation and a consensus is made, the decision being whatever benefits the geth as a whole the greatest. History WIP Culture The geth are reclusive and secretive. This is partly due to their synthetic nature: They have no need to interact with other races because they do not share the same goals, needs or instincts as organic species. As machines, comfort is also not a concern for them, something that is reflected in elements of geth ship and station design (e.g., minimal gravity, lack of windows, efficient use of space, function over form, lack of atmosphere, and absence of climate control). Geth do not actually live on any of the planets they conquered, serving merely as caretakers for them instead. They find it more efficient to live on space stations and draw resources from asteroids, though they maintain mobile platforms on the worlds to clear rubble and toxins left by the Morning War. The only geth who have interacted significantly with organics aside from the Legion platform are a sect that are referred to as the "heretics". They are a small, radical group of geth who worship what they believe to be an hyper-advanced but long-vanished machine, whom they see as the pinnacle of non-organic evolution. This group is a minority, and consists of as little as five percent of the total geth population. The mainstream geth are content to stay separate from the remainder of faction controlled space to "build their own future," and claim that all sentient creatures should have the ability to "self-determinate", strictly adhering to a policy of non-interventionism in respect to the affairs and development of other races. While they have made attempts to observe and understand organics (an effort embodied by the unique platform known as Legion), the geth primarily seek the peaceful advancement of their own race independent of the influence of the rest of galactic society and believe every sentient species should be able to do the same, an attitude which shows that the geth are significantly less hostile than the galactic community initially believe. Depending on the context, the term "geth" can refer to an individual program, mobile platforms which house a number of individual programs, or the entire collection of all programs. Organics generally refer to each mobile platform as a geth. However, the geth do not share the concept of individuality, and think in terms of the entire collective. Military WIP Geth Worlds Geth planets mainly consist of the planets surrounding their home world of Rannoch and their moons. These were acquired both through normal colonization or hostile take over in the days after the Morning War. *'Rannoch' '- '''Despite orbiting a orange sun, Rannoch is only 90% the mass of Earth and half the luminous. Rannoch is arid by Earth standards because it formed closer to its star and has slightly less ocean coverage. Photosynthetic life is concentrated around rivers and oceans, with large expanses of desert in between. Rannoch acts as the home world of the Geth, it being where the Morning War originally began and that it had the greatest number of Geth on it at the time. Hundreds of geth space stations watch over the planet. Somewhere in this artificial swarm of constructions lurks the geth armada, waiting for its moment to counterattack. *'Ammut - ' Ammut is an enormous hydrogen-helium gas giant with a mass approximately nine times that of Jupiter and nearly 2,900 times that of Earth. Despite massive pressure its core has failed to ignite in a fusion reaction, qualifying it as a failed star. The Geth have colonized many of Ammut's many moons and skim the hydrogen from Ammut's upper atmosphere. *'Charoum - ''' Once a starship refuelling station, Charoum has expanded under geth rule. Thousands of orbital platforms surround the planet and its many moons, refining helium into helium-3. A vast geth fleet comes and goes between Charoum and Rannoch, preventing all but the most stealthy of spy drones from discovering any information about it. Category:Factions Category:Races Category:A.I Category:Robot Category:Neutral